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Brazil’s logo for the 2014 World Cup was supposed to symbolise unity. But the simple green and gold design of hands joining together like the World Cup itself has had quite the opposite effect.

Brazilians have slated the logo for two main reasons. One, for the way it was chosen, by a closed committee and with no public participation. And two, because it’s ugly.

“It’s poorly done, unfinished, the curves are not well drawn, the hands are distorted and it’s childish,” was the damning indictment of João de Souza Leite, a leading figure in the Brazilian Association of Graphic Designers.

The controversy over the design and the lack of transparency is emblematic of the problems Brazil faces in preparing for the world’s biggest sporting event. With the South African tournament now just a memory, all eyes are on Brazil and it is having trouble adjusting to the scrutiny.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised preparations will be marked by transparency, but the head of the local organising committee, Ricardo Teixeira (a man accused of everything from tax evasion to organised crime by a Congressional enquiry), answers to no one and the government has done little to clarify matters.

Neither the Sports Ministry nor the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has released the official bid proposal three years after it was submitted and the government website set up to allow people to monitor spending hasn’t been updated since May.